Lindsay Surname DNA Project Group 2
Documents about the family of Joseph Lindsey
(Represented in Group 2 by
L0156)

These documents concern the family of Joseph Lindsey
(b.1807 d.1883). Joseph Lindsey was a son of Jacob Lindsey Jr. (b. 1778) and his wife
Phoebe Lindsey. Joseph Lindsey married Nancy Branham in
Butts Co., GA in 1830.
They later lived in Tallapoosa Co., Alabama. Among Joseph and
Nancy's children were John G. Lindsey, b. abt. 1831, and
Benjamin F. Lindsey, b. 1838. Benjamin F. Lindsey
married Amanda "Mandy" Ammons in St. Louis, MO in 1873.
Benjamin F. Lindsey died in Clinton Co. in 1878.

Grand
Excursion: Images of an 1874 letter written byJoseph Lindsey (b. 1807) on the back of a
flyer.

Amanda A. B. Ammons was the wife of Benjamin F. Lindsey,
son of Joseph B. Lindsey (b.1807, d. 1883). I believe that
Benjamin died on March 16,1878, approximately five years
after they were married. Clinton County, Illinois started
keeping track of deaths only 3 months before this date.
County records include a Benjamin F. Linsey (I believe a
misspelling), and the record indicates this person was 39
years, 11 months, 17 days
when they passed on March 16, 1878, and that they had been
in Illinois for 13 years, coinciding with the end of the
Civil War. The record also indicates they were born in
Georgia. We believe that Benjamin was born in 1838, so
this death record information is consistent. Alabama
census
records indicate that Benjamin was born in Georgia. The
Ammons family was located in Clinton County. These facts
lead me to believe that the
death record for Benjamin F. Linsey is in fact the son of
Joseph B Lindsey.

Clinton County records include the marriage of Amanda A. B.
Lindsey to W. K. (Wingate K. I believe) Lewis on March 19,
1879. The letter from
John G. Lindsey she received, dated October 12, 1879,
indicates that she had multiple children. It is
understandable that a young woman with
children would re-marry rather quickly. The letter from
John G Lindsey expresses a desire to see her children,
because her husband "was all the
brother that I had that seemed like a brother". This is
clearly past tense, and I believe he is referring to
Amanda's husband Benjamin
Lindsey, but goes on to write in the next sentence of the
letter that he would like for her and her husband (new, I
believe), to come visit. The
1886 letter refers to her in writing as Amanda A. B. Lewis.

Benjamin and Amanda Lindsey had a son, Joseph B Lindsey
(b. December 9, 1874; d. June 14, 1945), my GG
Grandfather. He only had his father a
very short time, and was apparently raised by W. K. Lewis
and Amanda. The 1865 will of Jackson Ammons refers to one
of his daughters as Mandy, and we believe this was Amanda.

The two letters from John G. Lindsey, passed down from
Amanda, to Joseph B. Lindsey, then to Harry L. Lindsey,
have provided valuable information that is helping to
piece together this part of the Lindsey family; however,
more valuable is the personal nature and feel that the
words provide. You get a sense of the common language of
the time, written by a farmer, and the interest in
providing a family member with an update on the
"Connection". In the 1879 letter, you can almost feel the
pain of the reference to recovering from the Civil War in
Alabama, but at the same time, the optimism of the
upcoming crop, and the sense of joy after seeing photos of
the "beautiful babes", whom he has never seen in person.
Documents like this provide so much more than government
records.